Press release, 28 October 2018, 4.30pm

Largest action of civil disobedience against coal +++ “Coal mines of the Rhineland mining area have become symbols of the climate movement”

This weekend, 6,500 people took part in the biggest action of civil disobedience ever against lignite mining. Several thousand activists occupied the tracks of the Hambach coal train for over 24 hours, thus blocking the transport of lignite from the mines to the surrounding power plants. Some activists chained themselves to the tracks and thus prolonged the occupation until 4.30pm on Sunday.

“Germany’s Coal Commission is desperately clinging to outdated energy technologies. It wants to sacrifice our future to the profits of corporations. We have shown with our action: They will not get away with it! The majority of the population wants to shut down coal-fired power plants immediately,” says Karolina Drzewo, spokesperson for Ende Gelände.

Selma Richter, spokesperson for Ende Gelände: “The Hambach forest and the coal mines of the Rhineland mining region have become symbols of the climate movement. Never before have so many people acted with civil disobedience for effective climate protection.”

“Ende Gelände”, an alliance for coal phase-out, had been negotiating for weeks about an area for a protest camp. A first camp was evicted by the police in the middle of Wednesday night. A second camp was built shortly after, giving shelter to 4,500 activists. A total of 6,500 activists set off on Saturday to block lignite infrastructure around the Hambach open-pit mine to demand the immediate phase-out of coal. A small group occupied a coal excavator in the early morning of Saturday, which had to stop for several hours. 4,000 activists occupied the rail tracks of the Hambach Railway for more than 24 hours, thus blocking the supply of lignite to the surrounding power stations. Some activists chained themselves to the rails. In accordance with the group’s action consensus, the activists were peaceful throughout the action despite the police attempting to escalate the situation.

News-Blog directly from the Hambacher Forrest

Legal team

The Legal Team for all is the anti-repression-crew for the actiondays 2017 + 2018. If you have any questionns, contact them: legal_team_fuer_alle@posteo.de (pgp-Key). Please also write to them if you recieve any letters or similar things from the police, court or prosecution after the actions. Our solidarity against their repression!
Whoever is contacted by the police, state prosecutors or Vattenfall because of participating in Ende Gelände 2016 (!) please contact as soon as possible:
cat@nirgendwo.info(pgp-Key)
If you get any post regarding Ende Gelände 2015, whether it is from the police, state prosecutor or RWE sollicitors: do not sign anything. If any of these bodies attempt to get in touch, do not respond. For advice on further steps please contact: antirrr@riseup.net (pgp-key)
Don't sign anything without consultation! -
Together we are strong!

Social Media

There is plenty of justified criticism of facebook. As many people - even within Ende Gelaende - use facebook, we also do. But on the upside: as long as you don't use this link, facebook will not notice your visit at our page!